A sharp rise in AI-powered cybercrime is making it increasingly difficult for law enforcement agencies to keep pace, as criminals adopt advanced tools to execute more convincing scams.
At a recent joint hearing by key security and cybersecurity subcommittees, experts highlighted how artificial intelligence is accelerating the scale and sophistication of digital fraud. Cynthia Kaiser, senior vice president at the Halcyon Ransomware Research Center, told lawmakers, “It’s easier to lie with AI, it’s easier to make convincing emails with malicious links, it’s easier to make these deep fakes.”
Ari Redbord, global head of policy at TRM Labs, revealed that AI-enabled scam activity has surged by 500% over the past year. Experts also noted that cybercriminals are increasingly using AI to identify vulnerabilities in decentralised finance systems and exploit gaps that may have been missed during audits.
The use of AI has transformed cybercrime into what experts describe as economic violence at scale. Megan Stifel, chief strategy officer at the Institute for Security and Technology, explained that attackers can now analyse large volumes of data to understand a victim’s financial behaviour. “They’re using that analysis capability to essentially have a response to every blockade that the victim tries to assert, making it harder for the victims to not make the payment,” she said.
Additionally, AI tools are being sold to enable impersonation scams, allowing fraudsters to trick victims into making fake investments. Jacqueline Burns Koven, Head of Cyber Threat Intelligence at Chainalysis, had earlier highlighted this growing trend.
Experts warned that the accessibility of AI is lowering the barrier to entry for cybercrime. “There’s a “world of people who couldn’t do attacks yesterday but can today,” Kaiser said. She also cautioned that security teams may struggle to keep up unless they adopt similar technologies.
Redbord echoed this concern, stating that while the “threat is daunting,” authorities are working to deploy advanced tools to counter these attacks. “Bad actors are always early adopters of transformative technology,” he said. “We need to move as fast as those bad actors, and the tools exist today.”
Kaiser also suggested potential legal changes to address the growing threat. She proposed that government departments evaluate whether ransomware groups targeting critical sectors like hospitals could fall under terrorism-related laws.
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